"Leo Varadkar accused by opposition of keeping plans for Irish border from public"

"Ireland’s prime minister has denied having secret plans to introduce checks at the border with Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit."

"Leo Varadkar was accused by the leader of Ireland’s opposition of keeping plans from voters after his deputy was overheard telling his transport minister he should avoid talking about checks on the border."

" “It seems there is a private understanding and knowledge of a border in the aftermath of a no-deal Brexit but at all costs that private understanding must not be shared with the public,” said the Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, during leaders’ questions in the Dáil."

"“It’s like the scene in Fawlty Towers: ‘Whatever you do don’t mention the war,’” added Martin, whose party is supporting Varadkar’s Fine Gael in a confidence and supply deal similar to Theresa May’s deal with the DUP."

"The row over border checks erupted after the transport minister, Shane Ross, told reporters at a press conference after May’s Commons defeat on Tuesday he “would anticipate that there would be checks” on lorries coming from Scotland to the Republic of Ireland via Northern Ireland."

"In an unguarded comment caught on microphone after the press conference, he asked Simon Coveney, the deputy prime minister, whether he should have made the remark."

"Coveney replied:...

“Yes, but we can’t get into where they’ll be at this stage. They could be in the sea, they could be … But once you start talking about checks anywhere near the border, people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we’ll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland.” "

"Ross responded: “Yeah, but I didn’t know what to say.” "

"Coming under pressure during leaders’ questions, Varadkar said: “We are not planning for checks on the land border in Northern Ireland.” "

"All Coveney’s remarks proved, he said, is “that if you use the wrong words, or you say things in the wrong way, people will misinterpret that as meaning a secret plan and there is no such secret plan”."

The Alliance Party has spoken out about the controversial backstop, which they believe is a pragmatic solution to the possibility of a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit.

Stephen Farry MLA's comments come after the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas said it was "obvious" there would be a hard border on the island of Ireland if the UK leaves the EU without securing a deal.

The Brexit deadline remains set for 29 March 2019, while the backstop is a proposed insurance policy designed to keep Northern Ireland in the same customs territory as the EU in order to prevent checks on goods crossing the border.

The provision formed part of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement which was rejected in Parliament by an overwhelming majority on Tuesday 15 January.

The Alliance Party deputy leader said Ms Schinas' comments should not come as a surprise to anyone.

"If Northern Ireland is part of a different customs space from the EU, then there is an inevitable need for the EU to respect the integrity of the single market."

"There are of course requirements the UK would have under WTO rules to police all of its borders equally under the non-discrimination principle between all its trading partners. To do otherwise would be a breach of international law and would further undermine the credibility of the UK."

Mr Farry continued: "Any new border on the island of Ireland should be unthinkable. The current problems and uncertainty arise from the decision of the UK to leave the EU and the government bears a particular responsibility to find a workable solution. The current backstop proposal achieves this and should be supported by all."

The backstop remains one of the key sticking points in Brexit negotiations, with the future of Northern Ireland's border with the Republic unclear.

It comes only days after a North/South body revealed that cross-border trade is at an "all time high", standing at £6.11 billion in 2017 after continually growing by 4% each year since 1998.

Aidan Gough of InterTrade Ireland said participating in cross-border exporting is making an "important contribution" to the performance of individual businesses, local rural economies, and the border economy on the island.

You have actually posted two links in two different posts on the same topic, one without comment and one showing a gif of you rolling in laughter and so I won't take that one too seriously, notwithstanding that you mocked the speaker's accent. (I wonder how your own accent sounds? )

However, the BBC link appears to less bias than the Belfast Telegraph and shows that the Irish Prime Minister on the World Economic Forum was simply asked for his opinion on what a 'Hard Border' would look like and he gave it.

Asked to describe what a hard border would look like if the outcome of Brexit was a worst-case scenario, Mr Varadkar said: “It would involve customs posts, it would involve people in uniform and it may involve the need, for example, for cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence or army presence to back it up.”

Remember, he was asked for a 'worst-case scenario'.

He further stated that such a border, given the history of Irish politics would become a target.

Bearing in mind that no one really knows the outcome of Brexit, I took his comments to be nothing more than speculation with possibilities.

"Northern Ireland’s top police officer has warned that border posts and security installations created as a result of a “hard Brexit” would be seen as “fair game” for attack by violent dissident republicans."

"The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said he feared that a fortified frontier that would have to be policed around the clock would put his officers’ lives in greater danger from anti-peace process paramilitaries."

"George Hamilton also expressed concern that the British government and the EU had not yet come up with a post-Brexit alternative to the European arrest warrant (EAW), which he said was a vital tool in the fight against terrorism and crime on the island of Ireland."

"He described as “severe” the violent threat from the New IRA and other terrorist groups opposed to the peace settlement in Northern Ireland."

"In an interview with the Guardian, the officer , who has one of the most challenging policing jobs in Europe, said security policy in Ireland needed “something cleverer than a hard border”."

"On the possibility of Brexit leading to a hardened Irish border with customs posts or fixed security installations, Hamilton said: “The last thing we would want is any infrastructure around the border because there is something symbolic about it and it becomes a target for violent dissident republicans."

“Our assessment is that they would be a target because it would be representative of the state and in their minds fair game for attack. I would assume that that assessment is shared by senior politicians and officials who are negotiating Brexit."

“While I am chief constable I do not want to enter the political debate over Brexit but I still think it’s fair to comment on some of its implications and scenarios. And a hard border from a policing perspective would not be a good outcome because it would a create a focus and a target.”

“Anything that makes the police presence predictable in places where terrorists are active of course raises the threat and increases the harm to my officers. We deal with risk every day and we are good at it but unfortunately the terrorists only have to be lucky once and get a result with catastrophic consequences. I think it would be a poor use of police resources if we are going to have to protect physical infrastructures at the border.”

"Hamilton said hard border installations could also have a negative political impact in both Northern Ireland and the Republic."

"“If you put up significant physical infrastructure at a border which is the subject of contention politically your are re-emphasising the context and the causes of the conflict. So that creates tensions and challenges and questions around people’s identity, which in some ways the Good Friday agreement helped to deal with,” he said."

“There is a small group of determined dissident republicans who would see that physical apparatus if it’s on the northern side of the border as a representation of the UK state.”

"The chief constable said he had been asking for 18 months that both the British government and the EU offer up an alternative to the European arrest warrant."

"Hamilton said he feared the PSNI may no longer be able to deploy the EAW after the UK leaves the EU. “The clock is ticking,” he said, in terms of the UK and the EU drafting legislation to replace the EAW."

"Over the last five years the PSNI said it has used the EAW to extradite 352 criminal suspects to other EU countries, including the Irish Republic, while 54 have been sent back to Northern Ireland."

“In the middle of all the higher politics about the EU exit the European arrest warrant has been overlooked. You would think at one level it is in everybody’s interest including the remaining EU countries and even the most ardent Brexiteers that we can keep each other’s countries safe, that we can exchange intelligence and that we have mechanisms to bring people to justice."

“Unlike issues like trade or immigration where different agendas are running it is hard to envisage how anyone would not be up for being able to exchange evidence and information as well as moving detained persons between jurisdictions,” he said."

"Asked if his force’s strength of 6,700 officers could properly police the 300-mile Irish border, Hamilton said that unless there were extra numbers recruited resources would have to taken away from other areas of policing."

“There would be an increased demand due to a hard border and a pull of resources towards that which means either an uplift in police funding or else we would have to have reduced levels of service in other areas.”

"He welcomed the fact that all sides in the Brexit debate in Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels agreed that a hard border should be avoided after the UK leaves the EU."

"While welcoming a decision by one of the dissident republican groups – Óglaigh na hÉireann – to declare a ceasefire, Hamilton said the threat from hardline factions still engaged in violence, such as the New IRA, was severe. He pointed out that last year there were five serious attempts by dissident republicans to kill his officers, including a gun attack in north Belfast that left two policemen wounded."

"Hamilton said that in relation to counter-terrorist operations in 2017, the PSNI carried out 148 searches and made 37 arrests, resulting in 26 people being charged or reported to the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland."

"The Chief Constable said the proportion of jailed dissident republicans compared with the overall membership of their organisations was “very high.” He said a number of “senior characters” inside the New IRA and Continuity IRA were facing prosecution in the near future."

"On Ulster loyalist paramilitaries, he said there was a clear split between those “progressive” politically minded paramilitaries who had “bought into the dream of the peace process” and those using the names of the UVF and UDA as a “protective cloak” to engage in drug dealing, loan sharking and prostitution."

"There were 10 to 12 foreign criminal gangs operating in Northern Ireland, some of them working in collusion with criminal loyalist factions, he said."

“The irony here is that there are loyalist groups working with eastern European gangsters in the drugs trade, in prostitution and extortion. Yet these same loyalist groups are the ones behind burning out and intimidating people from places like Lithuania and Romania in areas they perceive as their own,” Hamilton said."

"The chief constable also said he was worried about the rise of so-called “paedophile hunters” who are using social media to track down those they accuse of child abuse or possessing child pornography. The Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland is researching about 100 cases that “paedophile hunters” have reported in terms of alleged child abusers."

"He referred to a recent incident in Ballymena, County Antrim, which in his view underlined the dangers of what he called “vigilanteism”. A man was driven from his home by a group of “paedophile hunters” in the town and 24 hours later his home was set on fire."